Bridge Magazine recently featured the work of the Northwest Detroit Flood Recovery Project.
KURT KUBAN
Bridge Magazine
The United Methodist Committee on Relief, the nonprofit, global disaster relief arm of the United Methodist Church, initiated the Northwest Detroit Flood Recovery Project (NwDFRP) in April 2015. From it’s base at Second Grace United Methodist Church on Joy Road in Detroit, the group offers comprehensive disaster case management services and is works with others “to address survivors’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.”
As the name suggests, the group is focused on the northwest section of the city – the area west of Woodward and north of Warren Road, and where there were more than 44,000 damage claims submitted to FEMA after the flooding, according to Rebecca Wilson, the project coordinator.
“Detroit had never seen a disaster like this, and just wasn’t prepared,” Wilson said. “The United Methodist Church wasn’t prepared, either. We had dealt with small tornadoes, but nothing like this. This was the largest natural disaster of 2014 and nobody was prepared for what that meant.
“And then you throw on top of that the political climate of these three counties. We don’t collaborate on much of anything, so why would we collaborate on a flood?”
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Last Updated on December 28, 2022